What is your “Why?”

By Caleb Smith, River Point Rabun Community Church

Think about the most successful companies that you know. For instance: Apple, Amazon, Tesla. When you look at these companies, their success is driven not by what they are making but why they are making the what. These companies are passionate about what they are making and it doesn’t take long to understand why they produce the products or services they do. Now, think about the things you are passionate about in your life. The things that crowd your calendar, demand your finances, keep you up at night. Those closest to you in your life probably could answer the question of what those things are but do they know the why? I recently went on a trip to Boston to partner with a church there in doing outreach to the community in East Boston. One of the events that we partner with each year is a week long camp for teaching soccer skills to kids called “Soccer Nights”. While it is a lot of fun to spend a week investing time and energy into the kids that show up, teaching them skills and life lessons, there is a why behind all of it. We had a grandmother of one of the children come and ask us who we were affiliated with and why we were offering the camp for free to the families in the community. This opened the door for me to share that we were doing it because we are Christians and we want to connect with families in the community and share with them the love of God.

If you do something long enough and with enough passion, someone is going to notice and eventually ask you why you continue to do that certain thing. If you love others enough and sacrifice time, energy, money and resources then someone will eventually want to know why you are willing to make all of those sacrifices. When it comes to showing Godly love to others and Godly sacrifice, it is easy to answer those questions with “Because that’s what God wants me to do” or “Because my pastor asked me to” but is that really helping the person with the question? Or is it leaving them with an incomplete answer?

In the book of 1 Peter in the bible, Peter urges believers to “be ready at any time to give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.” The Greek word for “reason” in that translation means a “reasoned statement”. Hopefully, one of the things in your life you are passionate about, the what that is so important, is something that points to Jesus. As a Christian, the goal of my life should be to make sure every person who doesn’t know Jesus as their savior is introduced to Him and has that opportunity. This means I need to be living in a way that poses the question of why by others. When that question comes I need to be ready to answer it with a reasoned statement. One that I fully know and understand because I am passionate enough about the what I am doing to make sure I study up on the why so I can explain it as clear as possible.

I’ll close with a question (for those who have placed their faith in Christ): Do you live your life in a way that begs the question WHY from others? If that question comes, are you prepared to give a reasoned answer?

If we studied God’s word as much as we study the other things in our lives that we love then it wouldn’t be hard at all to answer the WHY.

Caleb Smith is Pastor at River Point Community Church located at 70 Old Livery St. in Clayton, Georgia. River Point is a non-denominational, community-driven church committed to leading people into a personal, intimate relationship with Jesus Christ. Pastor Smith and his family have made their home in Rabun and are happy to be part of this mountain community. If you’d like additional information please call 706-960-9275 or message caleb@rpcc.me